Scottish Kirk Sessions

The biggest problem I have in my work is that I am way too easily distracted! Here is an example. I was searching the Tongland Kirk Session Minutes (CH2/1244/2) in the National Records of Scotland the other day and found this very interesting entry from 2 September 1869:

Voluntarily compeared Ann Bird or Morton wife of Joseph Bird, Sailor who confessed that in the month of October last she gave birth to a child in uncleanness, she having been married in the month of July previous: On being admonished to be ingenuous and to speak the truth, she declared that Jonathan Turner was the partner of her guilt and the father of her child. Her husband Joseph Bird is known to bear testimony corroborative of the statement, and although disowning the paternity of the child has adopted it as his own. Having been solemnly admonished by the Moderator she was absolved from scandal.

Tongland Kirk

A search in the birth records found the birth certificate of the unnamed child. James Morton (or Bird) was born on 1 October 1865, and it is column 4 of his birth certificate which is the most interesting. Column 4 on a Scottish birth certificate gives the ‘Name, Surname, & Rank or Profession of Father, Name, and Maiden Surname of Mother And Date and Place of Marriage’. In this column on James’ birth certificate we read: “Ann Morton, married on 22nd July last to Joseph Baird, sailor who she declares is not the father of the child, & further that he was at sea for Months prior to 18 July 1868.”

A search in the census of 1871 shows that James (aged 2) was living with his maternal grandparents. I’ve not traced this family any further as I really should be doing research for clients but if you are related I would love to hear from you.

What do we learn from this? It is important to look at as many records as possible to get a full picture of what’s going on within a family, which can take effort. Historic Scottish birth certificates are available online but Kirk Session records are not (yet). For the time being you can access them in Edinburgh and various satellite locations around Scotland, including archives in Hawick, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Glasgow. There are other archives who also have access to the digital images, it’s worth checking with the National Records of Scotland to see if an archive near you has access.

The fact that the Church of Scotland Kirk Sessions are digitised is a great help but there is as yet no index to most of these minutes. Having said that, I wouldn’t have found this entry if I had used an index, when you browse a volume interesting entries jump out at you. If your family is from a small to medium-sized parish in terms of population, and you have access to the digital images, I would recommend browsing the volumes; who knows what you will discover!

Decreet, Armstrong v Kirk - 2 September 1847

“Decreet, Armstrong v Kirk - 2 September 1847”, sounds innocuous enough, you may think. Not far into this particular decree, though, we find out some very useful genealogical information. The following decree is taken from a so far unindexed volume of the Jedburgh Sheriff Court Register of Decreets (or Decrees). Much of the material in these volumes concerns the resolution of financial disputes and the like. Interesting perhaps, but not as useful to the genealogist as the paternity cases interspersed amongst the courts business.

After 1855 we generally know if there was a paternity decree as it would normally be recorded on the civil registration birth certificate. Before 1855, however there may be very little information. Sometimes we can find an entry in Kirk Session minutes, but these have not always survived, and not all families were members of the Church of Scotland or one of the other leading Presbyterian churches which kept such records. Even when such minutes survive, the entries may give only very limited information regarding the parents.

Sometimes we see an illegitimate child use a father’s surname (often this is the case in the early census returns), and we may speculate as to the identity of the father. Sheriff Court decrees like the one shown in the extract below can enable us to positively identify the father of an illegitimate child and therefore overcome a brick wall in our family tree. The decree is often only the starting point, as in many cases the processes also survive. The processes are court papers which often give us much more information than the decree and help us to see the case from the perspective of both the pursuer and the defender.

I am pleased to say work has now begun on indexing these wonderful records. Watch this space!

In the margin we read:

Decreet

Armstrong

v

Kirk

2d September 1847

The body of the text reads as follows:

At Jedburgh the Twenty eighth day of July and the Sixteenth day of August Eighteen hundred and forty seven years Sitting in Judgment John Craigie Esquire Sheriff Substitute of the County of Roxburgh in an action raised before the Sheriff Court of the said County at the instance of Jemima Armstrong Daughter of and residing with William Armstrong Blacksmith in Morebattle Pursuer against William Kirk Blacksmith in Morebattle defender. The Sheriff Decerned and Ordained and herby Decerns and Ordains that the said William Kirk Defender to make payment to the said Jemima Armstrong Pursuer of the sum of One pound of inlying expenses of a male bastard child of which the pursuer was delivered on the twentieth day of March eighteen hundred and forty seven of which the said William Kirk is the father. Item of the sum of one pound ten shilling per quarter for three quarters of nursing fee. Item of Four pounds per annum of aliment thereafter payable quarterly and per advance which aliment is to continue until the said child shall arrive at the age of ten years unless the said defender shall when the child shall attain the age of seven years offer to take it to his own home and provide suitably for it reserving to the said child its relations to apply and shew cause for a continuance of the aliment after it shall arrive at the age of ten years and to the Defender his Defences as accords. Item of Interest on the several sums as they have become or may become respectively due until paid. Item of the sum of Three pounds & eight pence of Expenses of process and Item of the sum of four shillings as the dues of Extracting this Decreet and of Recording the same. And I the said Sheriff &c

Written by Geo. Henderson Collated by I Stewart Newbigging

Taken from Jedburgh Sheriff Court, Register of Decrees (NRS reference SC62/7/9, pages 4 and 5).

This record now helps us to identify the William Kirk or Anderson seen here in the census of 1851 as the child of William Kirk seen here. Hopefully unravelling a little mystery for the Armstrong family!

Do you have this type of mystery? I hope the indexes that we are going to make available soon will help. In the meantime email me with your genealogical queries and we will see what we can do.

www.maxwellancestry.com

Sudden Death of a Montrose Woman - Elizabeth Sherret

I discovered this sad tale in the Montrose Standard and Mearns Register (August 26, 1864, page 4):

Sudden Death Of A Montrose Woman At Blairgowrie. – On Sunday morning last, a woman was observed sitting on a stair in the High Street, Blairgowrie, apparently in an exhausted condition. The neighbours removed her to a green at the back of one of the houses, and prepare to give her refreshments, but before these could be prepared the woman breathed her last. The body was conveyed to a house adjoining the churchyard, and was decently prepared for interment by authority of Mr. Robson, inspector of the poor. It has now transpired that the woman’s name is Elizabeth Sherret, about 49 years of age, and that she belongs to Montrose. Her sister is, we understand, presently residing here. The remains were interred in the Blairgowrie Churchyard on Tuesday afternoon.

We can search newspapers for you; did your ancestor have an untimely end? Contact us and ask how we can help you add more colour to your family tree.

www.maxwellancestry.com

Hobkirk Kirkyard photos

I had an enjoyable day out in the Scottish countryside today. It was a very cold but very sunny day. As traditionally gravestones face east I made a fairly early start to ensure I could catch the morning sun hitting the front of the stones.

I was looking for a particular stone, which I found quickly, but as I was there on such a beautiful day I decided to photograph all the gravestones in the older part of Hobkirk Kirkyard. An example is shown below, but someday we will try to make them all available online. In the meantime if you are looking for a particular grave e-mail me and I’ll see if I can find it for you.

In Memory Of

James Binnie Oliver son of

George Oliver Shepherd in Gatehous-

ecott who does at Carolcroft

June 21st 1853 Aged 20 years

Also

George Oliver who dies at Burnfoot Sept. 12

1878 Aged 76 Years.

Also

Elspeth Murray wife of George Oliver

who died at Gatehousecott, March 13th, 1862,

aged 62 years.

Also Robert Barnes their son in law

who died at Hawthornside 18th July 1894.

Aged 57 years

Also Elizabeth Oliver his wife who died

at Kinninghall 17th Aug. 1917, aged 86 years.